rfoshaug

Haha, include moving armrests on the expense of color displays??? One is essential to realism and simulation, the other is not... I agree that it would have been nice to be able to "hold" the steering tiller to do rudder movement tests while taxiing, and it would be nice to have sunscreens, but these are in no way essential, and I'll gladly go without them if I can have the PMDG realism when it comes to systems, screens, flight model, fly-by-wire etc etc etc. And in FSX sometimes you cannot have all you want due to limitations of the sim, and I think PMDG has chosen correctly when prioritizing essential systems and not cool but unnecessary animations. Framerate isn't THAT great either, so I'm glad there are not another hundred click spots in the virtual cockpit, for example.

For the second time today I have been stumped by FSUIPC messing with the 777. Remove the joystick calibration for the throttle axes (click "reset" on each of them - you can first click "profile specific" to just change it for the 777), and it works like a charm even though the axes still are recognised through FSUIPC. The other FSUIPC thingy I had earlier today was that I had to reset cowl flaps (!) calibration to make most of my 777's buttons work, as they were unclickable (including the battery switch). So this time, remove calibration on throttle axes (but keep it through FSUIPC) and you should be good to go.

Same thing here. If I put the autothrottles in standby mode it behaves normal, but with A/T on, the throttles snap back to 0 all the time whenever I try to advance the throttles. I don't want to assign them through FSX's system instead of FSUIPC, as the two levers I use for engine 1 and 2 throttles here are engines 2 and 3 when I fly a 4-engine plane, and the lever I use for engine 2 throttle here iis the same lever I use for engine #1 mixture in 1- or 2-engined piston aircraft. That's the beauty of FSUIPC.

Thanks for your help on this. Not in a million years would I have guessed that this was the problem.

Now THAT's what I'm talking about in terms of constructive response!! It seems to work! I have no controllers actually connected to cowl flaps, but I clicked reset on each of the 4 cowl flaps in the joystick calibration menu in FSUIPC, and it seems to work - will of course do more testing but I right away was able to click the battery on and off. That's just about the strangest error I've experienced in any game ever - that the calibration of unused cowl flaps could prevent click spots in the VC is far out. Thank you, guenseli.

After some sleep I've restarted my computer, loaded FSX and the 777, without ever enabling my TrackIR. I then went to the view of the overhead console by pressing "A" 3 times. So now I'm viewing the overhead buttons and switches from the standard viewpoint position. The following buttons do not work. Overhead Upper Panel: - none of the buttons here work, although unsure if they should be clickable Overhead Lower Panel: - PRIMARY FLIGHT COMPUTERS DISC/AUTO (to be honest I don't know if this is supposed to be clickable) - BATTERY (although the APU rotary switch right next to it works) - APU GEN - IFE/PASS SEATS - CABIN/UTILITY - Both guarded DRIVE DISC buttons (L/R) - GND PROX RUNWAY OVRD - PASS OXYGEN - EMER LIGHTS - RAM AIR TURBINE - NO SMOKING (although SEAT BELTS right next to it works) - OVHD / CB - MASTER BRIGHT - GLARESHIELD PNL/FLOOD - LANDING LIGHT LEFT - LANDING LIGHT NOSE - LANDING LIGHT RIGHT - DISCH handle - CARGO FIRE ARM FWD - CARGO FIRE ARM AFT - DISCH - ENGINE EEC MODE L - ENGINE EEC MODE R - NOZZLE L - NOZZLE R - FUEL CROSSFEED - none of the 9 buttons work in this section - GASPER - ELECTRIC FANS UPPER - ELECTRIC FANS LOWER - CABIN TEMP (although FLT DECK TEMP next to it works) - AIR COND RESET All these buttons consistently have no clickspot no matter where I place my head or which VC view I select. The other buttons (some of them in very close proximity to INOP buttons) do have a clickspot. It doesn't matter if I move the eyepoint, the problem is consistent and repeatable. I do understand the reason for assuming that I hadn't tried moving the viewpoint, but I do not understand the reason for the hostility and assuming I'm a half-wit. Just to be clear what I've tested - I've run the mouse cursor over all the buttons and the ones listed above have no hand icon, and nothing happens when I click them. The issue is the same in the LR as in the F version. So as of now the 777 is no-go for me. Does anyone have any actual constructive ideas on what to try? As clearly reinstalling the aircraft to see if files are corrupted or missing is considered idiotic? Could it harm anything to run the installer again?

The aircraft looks great, but when I try to switch on or off the battery, there is no clickspot on the button. This also is true for a lot of other buttons especially on the upper overhead panel. What am I doing wrong? Or should I redownload/reinstall the aircraft?

I'll first power up the aircraft electrically and get the engines running. Then it's off to low-speed taxi tests, and gradually increasing taxi speeds to get a feel for it on the ground. Then there will be high-speed taxi tests and aborted takeoff simulations, checking out autobrake, reversers, spoilers etc. Maybe also accelerate to a bit below nominal rotation speed and pull back on the yoke to get a feel for pitch response during rotation, before slowing down again. Then, when everything is ready, it's time for the first flight, in Boeing house colours of course if they are available, doing a flight starting and ending at the same airport and testing out various systems on the way, first flying manually and get a feel for responses etc., then enabe the autopilot. The first part of the flight will be in takeoff configuration, before I methodically retract the gear and flaps (notch by notch) and check out the aircraft at different speeds and configurations from takeoff config to clean. After the checkout ride, I'll return back to base and again slowly and methodically extend more and more flaps as well as the landing gear and get a feel for the handling of the aircraft at speeds going down toward approach speed, before making a (hopefully) perfect landing on this historic moment of the first flight. All this will be recorded in FSRecorder so that I can fly chase in another aircraft later. I won't be using Boeing Field though, mostly due to framerate issues in Seattle, so I'll be using KVCV - Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville due to its incredibly long runway, which allows me to ease the aircraft down slowly and carefully for the first landing, and also to do rejected takeoff tests etc. But a first flight should be treated like a real first flight, and I'll unpack this thing slowly starting with taxi trials at gradually increasing speeds before the big day of the first flight.

747-8i and -8f (with NGX-level of simulation) are on the top of my wishlist. That said, I'm looking forward to any aircraft PMDG releases, because they are so detailed and realistic, visually, sounds, and systems modelling. Really looking forward to the 777 also.

+1 for me as well. I love the fact that they're modelling the most powerful engine variant. Also, I very much look forward to the later -300ER expansion, as I like the looks of the longer variant more.

Probably KBFI to KBFI (Boeing Field, Seattle) test flight in Boeing house livery if that'll be available when it's released. :-) Alternatively, KBFI-KVCV (Victorville / Southern California Logistics) ferry or KVCV-KVCV test flight as it has such a long runway, good framerates, nice weather, and is excellent for flight testing.

Thanks for your excellent answer, fppilot. Appreciate it! :)

Has anyone tried the Reality XP Weather Radar Gauge in the JetProp? Will it work or will there be 2d/3d knobs all over the place? ;-) Is there some way to get a good integration of it? Oh, sorry, just discovered this thread: http://forum.avsim.net/topic/377058-wx500-retrofit-in-piper-malibu/ That might help me along a bit.

I'm not a real-world pilot, so was wondering about this... I know that avionics should be switched on after engine start and generator activation to avoid power surges. But does that mean that the flight plan must always be entered on the GNS 430/530 after engine start? Is this the way it's done in real-life? BTW, I'm using the Reality XP GNS's so not using the FSX flight planner for anything else than reference. Another question regaring the same thing - do pilots have to request engine start to flight/ground controllers? If the GNS's are the only way of tuning radios, and they need to be off (along with the entire avionics bus) for engine start, how is this done in practice? Switch on - request engine start - switch off - start engine - switch on? Or can one start the engine(s) without requesting permission from controllers? Thanks for any input on this. :-)

Does anyone know if there is a repaint available for the 747-8i with either classic Boeing colors or dreamliner-style paint scheme?I know both exist for the freighter, but have found none for the -8i.Any pointers or painters would be greatly appreciated! :-)